Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
66 bundles of undeveloped film, estimated to be over 1,200 rolls, shot by the same photographer in the 1950s have found themselves in the hands of Levi Bettwieser at the Rescued Film Project.
Acquired by the Bettwieser a year ago at auction,the bundles of film are meticulously wrapped and labelled, including information such as the camera used, light modifiers, and exactly when the films were shot.
History, while being something we often repeat, is a precious treasure that, with time, often passes from recollection. With a passion to ensure that doesn’t happen, the Rescued Film Project makes it their mission preserve forgotten treasures and share them with the world. They take old, rescued film from the 1930s to the 1990s, develop it, and digitally preserve it before it degrades beyond any usability. As RFP explains,
Every image in The Rescued Film Project at some point, was special for someone. Each frame captured, reflects a moment that was intended to be remembered. The picture was taken, the roll was finished, wound up, and for reasons we can only speculate, was never developed. These moments never made it into photo albums, or framed neatly on walls. We believe that these images deserve to be seen, so that the photographer’s personal experiences can be shared. Forever marking their existence in history.
In what was essentially a gold mine find, they came into possession of 31 rolls of undeveloped film from an unnamed soldier in World War II, a man whose only known legacy is the images he left behind. Though time and the elements had taken their toll on the film, many of the photos, most having laid dormant for nearly 70 years, were still recoverable.
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